####
A suit or a jacket.
To keep going to places like this, I was going to need some decent clothes.
Something I could wear anywhere.
Something moderately high-class, but easy to wear.
And most importantly.
‘Not too feminine…….’
You might wonder what nonsense that was when my outward appearance was female, but I was a man.
To be precise, I had been a man.
So if someone suddenly told me to wear some fluttery, delicate outfit, no matter how much I looked like a woman on the outside, it was bound to feel awkward.
On top of that, if I went around wearing something like a skirt and accidentally spread my legs, it would be a disaster.
‘Absolutely not.’
I refuse to end up with some nickname like “the spread-legged woman of XX-dong.”
Anyway, after thinking through various things, the place I arrived at was a department store.
There was a department store and an outlet nearby, so I didn’t need to go far.
It was close enough to walk, so I entered in a good mood, enjoying the cool morning breeze.
‘It’s quiet.’
A weekday morning. It was only natural for it to be quiet at this hour.
Maybe I could take my time and look around.
‘It has been a while since I came to a department store. How many years has it been?’
The department store I’d visited back when I was in the thick of preparing for interviews.
I still remembered trembling as I swiped my card for a suit in eight-month installments because of a company interview.
If you asked why I bought such an expensive suit…
It was because I’d once gone to an interview in a cheap suit and received a smile tinged with ridicule.
I still remembered the interviewer smirking at the sight of me.
That day, hardly any questions came my way, and of course, I failed the interview.
People say that others care less about you than you think.
That’s true, but at least in the job market, it isn’t.
They were so terribly interested in other people.
‘They say academic background is everything, but I don’t think that’s entirely true either.’
If academic background were everything, wouldn’t Seoul National University have a 100% employment rate? Of course, it would still be advantageous compared to graduates from other universities.
Ah, whatever.
That complicated realm had nothing to do with me anymore.
Let’s stop thinking useless thoughts and enjoy myself.
That was why I came here.
“Oh…….”
After flinging away all those complicated thoughts, I confidently entered the first floor of the department store.
‘Is this a restaurant floor?’
There were an incredible number of restaurants and dessert shops spread out everywhere.
Had it always felt like this? It really hit me all over again just how long it had been since I’d come here.
Since I’d eaten too much breakfast earlier, the food didn’t catch my eye, but one café in the distance captured my attention.
A café decorated splendidly in gold, orange, and red.
Actually, rather than a café, it gave off more of a palace-like impression.
‘What kind of place is this?’
Out of curiosity, I slowly approached it.
The closer I got, the more the faint scent of coffee drifting over made my heart lift a little.
‘They sell a lot of things…….’
Looking more closely, they weren’t just selling coffee and beans, but also cups, saucers, sugar bowls? Things like that.
Was it a specialty coffee shop?
When I searched it up online, it said it was a luxury coffee shop from Singapore.
‘What? 16,000 won for one cup?’
And while reading the reviews, I witnessed the shocking price.
How could water brewed from coffee beans cost about the same as an old-style whole fried chicken?
Which meant I couldn’t resist.
“I can’t just pass this up without trying it…”
What on earth did a 16,000-won cup of coffee taste like?
With great expectations, I trotted into the shop.
####
“Mm…….”
To be completely honest, it was worse than I’d expected.
Maybe my expectations had been too high?
Still, out of all the coffee I’d drunk so far, this was the first one that had such a strong aroma and sharp, biting taste.
Rather than a sweet feeling, the bitterness was stronger, as if it were saying, “This is coffee.” Even so, there wasn’t much of an unpleasant taste.
It was good.
But did it really have to be this price?
Ah, the cup and saucer that came with it were luxurious, and they even gave me a straw that looked like some sort of merchandise.
On top of that, if I considered the vanilla cream served with the coffee, it almost seemed like a fair price.
‘Thinking about everything they give you, maybe it’s reasonable.’
The vanilla cream was tasty, and as I kept eating it, I started feeling a little more satisfied.
‘Though paying 5,000 won more than takeout is a bit much.’
Drinking it in the store was about 5,000 won more expensive than takeout. I didn’t know the exact reason, but maybe it was a seating fee.
‘Well, it’s fun to look around.’
When I looked around the shop, glittering so much it almost hurt my eyes, I felt a little like I’d become some incredible chaebol.
In truth, it was true that I was an incredible chaebol, but I still felt a little ambiguous about actually feeling it.
Laughing quietly to myself, I sipped up the remaining coffee in my cup.
‘The finish really is different, though.’
Then I got up from my seat and left the shop, carrying the coffee aroma that lingered around my entire body.
‘Where should I buy a suit?’
I hadn’t come with a plan for where to buy one, so I looked around.
The first floor was entirely restaurants, so it probably wouldn’t be here.
Not knowing where to go, I glanced around and approached an employee standing at the information desk.
“Um… excuse me, I came to buy a suit. Where should I go?”
The female employee listened to my question with a bright smile.
Then she took out a small pamphlet from the desk and showed me the full map.
“Customer, you’re currently here. For women’s clothing stores, please go up to the third floor, continue straight this way, then pass through this garden and enter the other building.”
This department store was ridiculously huge.
It felt like three large buildings had been combined.
“Thank you.”
After receiving such kind directions, I walked diligently and arrived at the place the employee had mentioned.
It really was all women’s clothing. It was full of familiar brands.
Though I wasn’t used to the fact that all the clothes inside were women’s clothing.
‘A place that sells suits…….’
I walked for about twenty minutes like that. Then I discovered a problem.
‘They’re all low-end.’
The stores around here weren’t the expensive brands people called luxury goods, but ordinary brands commonly seen on the market.
If not that, then they were full of low-cost brands you could wear cheaply.
I absolutely wasn’t looking down on these brands.
After all, back when I was Choi Minhu, whenever I bought clothes, I always bought them from places like this.
The reason I was calling this a problem now wasn’t because they were low-end or anything like that.
‘If I was going to buy clothes here, I would’ve bought them nearby.’
If I was going to buy from common brands, there had been no reason to come all the way to a department store.
‘Are there no other women’s clothing stores besides here? That can’t be it.’
After thinking for a moment, I noticed a touch-screen map attached to a large pillar nearby.
I searched for a luxury brand that came to mind.
A circle spun on the screen for a while, then disappeared.
‘It’s in the building next door.’
The luxury stores weren’t in this building, but in the building next to it.
I’d said I was looking for a suit, so why had she directed me here?
There were suit stores here too, but…
‘These are too casual.’
Casual suits with designs that students might wear.
They were clothes that would probably suit high schoolers or college freshmen.
As I thought that…
‘……I’m one of those kids, aren’t I?’
The image of myself in the mirror suddenly came to mind.
‘No wonder she mistook me for a student.’
On top of that, I was dressed like this right now.
I’d taken a bit of a detour, but in any case, I’d found where to go.
####
Men aren’t that interested in luxury goods.
Is that too much of a generalization? Then let me rephrase.
I wasn’t particularly interested in luxury goods.
So I’d thought all the famous brands only made bags or wallets.
That was why I’d come looking for a place that sold only women’s suits, but once I actually arrived, all those famous brands were selling suits too.
‘I didn’t know…….’
Even if they weren’t suits, there were a lot of coats and jackets as well.
What I liked was that those clothes didn’t stand out too much as women’s clothing.
So when I spotted a jacket that looked like I could wear it as part of a semi-formal outfit, I went straight into the store.
The employees looked at me with slightly curious eyes.
But only for a moment. One of the employees greeted me smoothly and approached my side.
“Welcome. Are you looking for anything in particular?”
Did luxury stores assign someone to watch over you one-on-one when you were choosing items?
Feeling a little uncomfortable, I nodded and answered.
“Yes… I saw the clothes displayed out front and came in….”
“May I ask what size you wear?”
“Uh…… Around size L, I think.”
Because of my chest, M probably wouldn’t fit. When I’d glanced online, it said that if you were a D cup, M could be tight.
To be honest, I hadn’t properly measured myself, so I didn’t know for sure.
The underwear had been something I measured for roughly on my own and bought, and the clothes I was wearing now had also been bought after measuring only the length very roughly.
‘There’s not a single thing I know for sure.’
Since this was my first time buying clothes in the first place, maybe that was only natural. Since I was buying several outfits, it would be good to get properly measured too.
“Please wait just a moment.”
When I answered while thinking that, the employee replied as such and disappeared somewhere.
I was left standing alone in the store.
It felt a little awkward to stand there by myself, so I slowly looked around the interior.
‘Amazing.’
The overall atmosphere of the store was classical and elegant.
A heavy fragrance tickled my nose, and it felt quite pleasant.
The employees were all neat and tidy without exception, and they shone so brightly that I couldn’t spot a single blemish on them.
I felt like I’d come to understand when people used the expression that someone had a glow about them.
“Customer, is this the item you were looking for?”
After I’d been admiring the store for a little while, the employee came back with a packaged jacket.
A navy jacket.
I’d heard people call it a blazer too, but either way, it looked like clothing suitable to wear as outerwear.
It was still summer, but autumn was coming soon.
And since mornings and evenings were a little chilly, it seemed like it would be good to buy one.
First of all, I liked that it didn’t stand out too much.
“Yes, that’s the one.”
“Would you like to check the size?”
“Uh… yes.”
“Then I’ll guide you to the fitting room.”
I followed the employee into a fitting room a little farther inside.
Unlike the fitting rooms I’d seen so far, this one had luxurious curtains hanging, and the inside was somewhat spacious.
“If you need assistance, please press the bell over here.”
After giving a polite but slightly stiff explanation, the employee drew the curtain.
Inside, I carefully took off my tracksuit.
When I removed the black tracksuit, the cheap white T-shirt I was wearing underneath came into view.
It seemed out of place here, so I smiled a little awkwardly.
Then I carefully put on the jacket hanging beside me.
As I was putting it on, I checked the tag and saw ₩2,280,000 written on it.
For a moment, I was so startled I nearly dropped the clothes on the floor.
‘What kind of price is this?’
An amount that exceeded the cost of one night at the hotel.
Regardless of the fact that I was a 500-billion-won asset holder, I still couldn’t get used to a single piece of clothing costing this much.
Even if it was luxury clothing, it was nothing more than a plain jacket with no particular features.
Whether the material was different or a craftsman had made it stitch by stitch, all my eyes saw was the price.
I hesitated for a moment, then stopped.
‘After spending like that at the hotel, what am I even saying?’
Thinking I was hopeless at living like a chaebol, I carefully tried on the jacket.
A cheap T-shirt. And the jacket laid over it.
‘……It does suit me.’
When I put on the jacket and looked in the mirror, it really was different.
The T-shirt that cost 8,000 won apiece looked like a T-shirt that cost 50,000 won apiece thanks to the jacket.
If I ignored the bottoms and looked only at the top, I felt almost like the youngest daughter of a chaebol family.
‘This isn’t a dream like in a drama, right?’
While having that silly thought, I turned my body this way and that to examine myself.
It was definitely different.
The feeling was different from when I went around wearing a tracksuit carelessly.
And that made it a little fun.
‘Should I try on something else?’